14ymedio – Page 417 – Translating Cuba

Police Raid Against Illegal "Almendrones" On Two Wheels

The motorcyclists of Santiago de Cuba are the main private transportation in the city. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Ernesto Camué, Santiago de Cuba | 17 December 2018 — Authorities in Santiago de Cuba are determined to impose order on mototaxis (motorcycle taxis), the main method of transportation in the city. In the last few weeks, an expanded body of inspectors and police officers has been trying to check the illegal motorcyclists, around nine out of every ten circulating around the city.

The profession laments that, in a context of new regulations for the private sector, the controls in the transportation of passengers are significant. The worst nightmare of these drivers is the motorized police, caballitos, who in the last few weeks have determinedly pursued motorcyclists to demand that they show their licenses.

The peculiar topography of the city, with steep streets, means that mototaxis are the best solution for passengers who want to cross it rapidly and without having to wait too long for a bus. Consolidated for decades, mobility on these two-wheeled “almendrones*” was legalized in 2014, but convincing the motorcyclists to formalize their activity has turned out to be an almost impossible task. continue reading

Of the 15,000 bikes providing service in the city, less than a tenth have a license to practice the occupation in a self-employed manner, according to the local press.

The majority prefer to do it outside of the law to evade the monthly payment for the permit which, along with the social security fee, can reach around 400 CUP (Cuban pesos, about $16 US), in addition to paying 300 CUP for the operating license once a year. The motorcyclists, additionally, justify their position by arguing that local authorities haven’t fulfilled the initial promise of providing them with spare parts and fuel at preferential prices to perform their work.

A mototaxi makes at least ten journeys a day, according to various motorcyclists consulted by this newspaper, from which the weekly earnings can top 3,000 CUP. However, these freelancers allege that spare parts and private maintenance garages have very elevated prices and that fuel, at 1 CUC (Cuban convertible pesos, about $1.00 US) per liter, is an unsustainable price.

Four years ago, Maira Pérez González, vicepresident of the Provincial Administration Council, assured that maintenance and repair garages would be authorized with facilities for these motorcyclists and that they would be sold oil, greases, body work, paint, and electricity.

“They told us that they were going to open a store where we could buy cheaper parts and tires to repair the motorcycles, but the supply lasted a very short time,” details Yunior, a 32-year-old motorcyclist who has spent seven years “evading the police” to avoid the fines of up to 500 CUP that they impose on illegal drivers.

The motorcyclist believes this is the only advantage of legalizing the business. “Everything else with being self employed is about obligations to the State, not rights: you have to pay more and the earnings are very little. We would have to set prices that customers aren’t willing to pay,” he tells 14ymedio to justify his decision to work outside the law.

If until a few months ago there was a certain permissiveness with the illegal motorcyclists, the outlook has radically changed at the end of 2018. “Before they would stop us so that we would wear a helmet and so we would carry another one for the customer, but now it’s a hunt to give us fines and even threaten to confiscate our motorcycles,” says Jorge Valdivia, a motorcyclist who had a license for several years until, in April of 2017, he decided to return it and continue “at his own risk” in Santiago’s streets.

“Now we have to tell the customer to pay discreetly because if the police see us accepting money they give us fines,” he adds.

Valdivia rides a bike of the MZ make, which along with Jawa and ETZ motorcycles are the most common ones in private transportation in this part of the country. “I bought this one from a Cuban who studied in communist Germany and brought it with him when he came back,” he tells this newspaper. They are among the few motorcycles with fuel motors that have been permitted to enter the country in half a century.

Currently customs laws only allow the private import of electric motorcycles, nor are models that consume fossil fuels sold in national stores. On the informal market one of these vehicles can cost 7,500 CUC or more, depending on its technical state and on the improvements made by its owner.

“I bought this Jawa a year ago and I still haven’t managed to recoup the investment, so I can’t pay for the license,” explains a young rider who preferred to remain anonymous. “If I get my license I will have to pay almost 500 CUP each month between one thing and another, so there would remain very little for me,” he details.

Along with the advantages in mobility that motorcycles offer in Santiago de Cuba is the price. There are rates by section and a standard trip costs 10 CUP, but one can also negotiate with the driver for longer distances or to use the vehicle to transport shopping, furniture, and even raw material for other private businesses.

“Without the motorcycles this city would be paralyzed because not even the guarandingas (a truck fitted out to operated a bus), nor the Diana buses (assembled on the island) manage to offer an efficient service,” says Carmen Rojas, a resident in the vicinity of the central Alameda of Santiago de Cuba. “Although not everyone can afford a moto, what’s certain is that they alleviate the transport problem a lot.”

*Translator’s note: The vehicles used in private, shared and semi-fixed route taxis in Cuba are commonly classic American cars from the 1950s or earlier, which are called “almendrones” in reference to their “almond” shape.

Translated by: Sheilagh Carey

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Dengue and Zika Advancing in Cienfuegos

A doctor attends a child with fever in one of the attached rooms of the hospital in Cienfuegos. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Justo Mora / Mario J. Pentón, Cienfuegos/Miami, December 12, 2018 –Winter hasn’t managed to contain the Aedes aegypti mosquito, which is grazing freely in Cienfuegos. 198 people have been seen in the past week under suspicion of dengue, and 22 suspected cases of Zika have been recorded, which makes the province one of those most affected by the presence of the mosquito, according to official figures obtained by 14ymedio.

“We have around 200 patients with symptoms of having contracted zika or dengue,” one of the doctors directing the fight against the epidemic explained, under condition of anonymity. “Additionally, the confirmed cases in the same period of time are 33 of dengue and 25 of zika. The epidemiologic situation is difficult in the province and the population doesn’t doesn’t realize the risk.”

The most affected municipality is Cienfuegos, with 118 cases of patients with fever, because of which they have had to equip rooms and annex hospitals to attend the flow of patients. In the province, 45 sources of the mosquito Aedes aegypti have been counted, of which the majority, 40, are in the city of Cienfuegos. continue reading

Areas of Cienfuegos where the mosquitos that transmit dengue and zika are common. (14ymedio)

The city’s newspaper, 5 de Septiembre, published an article at the end of November warning about the presence of a type of dengue in the province that hadn’t been seen since 1977 and that can cause death.

Authorities classified the health situation in the province at that moment as “alarming.”

“We have some shelters in the Faculty of Medical Sciences, in the Cinco de Septiembre polytechnic, and in other areas like Caunao. We were thinking that in 15 days the situation would be resolved, but to date the outlook remains very complicated,” he added.

The majority of the annexed rooms and shelters in which the patients with fever are being hospitalized don’t have the necessary conditions for good care. The patients are being crowded together, with terrible hygiene conditions and bad food, as 14ymedio was able to confirm during a tour of those spaces. Added to this are a lack of medicine and the bad state of the equipment, some of it in a deplorable condition.

Despite the growing number of cases of dengue and zika the water leaks continue to proliferate in many neighborhoods of the city (14ymedio)

In Cienfuegos there are 25 confirmed cases of zika, a virus that causes the appearance of reddish spots on the skin that may be accompanied by mild fever, headache, conjunctivitis, muscular pains, diarrhea, vomiting, and loss of appetite.

In the case of pregnancies, it is believed that zika can cause microcephaly, because of which health authorities warn pregnant women to avoid traveling to areas where the virus is present. In Cienfuegos, so far there have been confirmed 12 pregnant patients.

“The Aedes mosquito reproduces in clean waters. In Cienfuegos we have a precarious situation with the water supply, so people use tanks, buckets, barrels, and whatever they have on hand so that they don’t run out. There are areas where there has been no water for up to 15 days. This is the perfect place for sources to be generated,” warns the doctor.

“Luckily we have a health system that has its faults, but in coverage is very effective, otherwise, the situation would be worse. Until now we have not had to mourn deaths due to dengue or zika,” he added.

Numbers of cases of dengue and zika by area in Cienfuegos. (14ymedio)

Yamilka Portuondo, a Cienfuegos resident who lives in the Buena Vista neighborhood, doesn’t even remember the mosquito bite, but one morning she woke up with fever and her whole body hurt. “It was as if I had been beaten,” she explains. She spent almost a week with high fevers, abdominal pains, and weakness.

“Late at night is when the mosquitos start to go out and no one can escape them. Here there are many water leaks, that’s where they bred,” she says via telephone.

“I was in bed at home for a week. I had to commit to staying in my room with a mosquito net and not going out*. My dengue wasn’t the worst case, because of that a doctor friend of mine let me stay at home, but the majority of people have to go to the hospital,” she comments.

Her family got meat, oil, and vegetables for her diet, a luxury for the poorly supplied local markets. “My family members in Miami sent me a package of food that also helped. Dengue makes the platelets go down a lot, so doctors order a reinforced diet. Without my family I don’t know what I would have done.”

*Translator’s note: Patients can become a link in the transmission chain if uninfected mosquitos bite them, catch the virus, and then pass it on by biting other people.

Translated by: Sheilagh Carey

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The Lack of Personnel and Maintenance Sink Government Childcare Centers

Social sectors with higher incomes seek specialized care and better infrastructure for their children. (Charles Pieters)

14ymedio, Marcelo Hernandez, Havana, 16 December 2018 — Incomplete staffing and an excessively high ratio of children to teachers along with the lack of maintenance has led to remarkable deterioration in the childcare centers throughout the country, 57 years after their founding, according to the official press.

An article published this week in the newspaper Granma details the difficult time that state daycare centers are going through. Currently, these centers provide care for 18.5% of the population that is less than seven years old, about 134,000 children.

Despite the low birth rate in recent years, at least 48,000 families across the country are still waiting for their children to obtain a place at one of these centers, according to information from Mary Carmen Rojas Torres, an official of the Directorate of Education of Early Childhood in the Ministry of Education. continue reading

The closure of 36 childcare centers throughout the national territory and the deficit of specialized personnel cause many families to opt for private care, a phenomenon that has gained strength in the last two decades, especially among the sectors of society with higher incomes that seek specialized care and better infrastructure.

A resolution has been in place since last year requiring that a child enrolled in state day care be the son/daughter of an active worker, be at least 11 months old and able to walk. Employees from military and police institutions, public health and education centers have priority, while private sector workers were set aside on the list.

The low salaries that educators receive from the state locations, less than 40 CUC (Cuban Convertible Peso, roughly $40 US) per month, means that many of the graduates in this specialty end up opening their own childcare businesses or employed in private daycare centers.

“There are 183 closed locations due to lack of personnel, which translates into a deficit of 181 educators and 2,379 teacher’s assistants,” acknowledged Yoania Falcón Suárez, an official of the Ministry of Education. To alleviate the deficit, a higher children to educator ratio was authorized and in addition staffers now get a salary increase depending on the number of children, but these measures have not solved the problem.

Carmen María is one of the more than 7,000 mothers in the city of Havana who, for months, has requested a spot in a state child care center for her one-and-a-half year-old twins. The woman works as a waitress in a private restaurant and laments that the employees of the state sector have priority for obtaining a spot.

“I’m going to wait a couple of months to see if I’m lucky and I can enroll the children in a state childcare center, because it’s cheaper, but, if not, I’ll have to end up hiring a private caretaker in order to keep my job.” At the moment Carmen Marías children are under the care of their grandmother during her working hours.

The woman also thinks that “there has been a deterioration in the pedagogical quality of the workers in these places because before they were closer to being true teachers but now they are more like assistants who are there to take care of the children, but they do not teach them many things.”

An official of the Ministry of Education explained to 14ymedio the reasons for prioritizing the state sector. “The cuentapropistas (self-employed) have higher incomes and that is not a secret to anyone,” explains the worker of this ministry, on condition of anonymity. “In the midst of the difficulties we have with the number of locations and specialized personnel, we are trying to help — first of all — the mothers with the lowest salaries,” she says.

“We also have a policy that all those women who work in strategic state sectors can have their childcare guaranteed even if they do have to wait a long time to obtain a place,” the official added. “Childcare centers are subsidized and should benefit those who need this support, because other families can pay for a private caregiver.”

The child care educators are trained in mid-level courses in pedagogical schools for young people who have graduated from the 12th grade. At the moment there are more than 3,700 students training in these centers who are destined to occupy positions in state child care centers and preschool classrooms. But many of them will end up deserting the profession.

Rosario García has been managing a private daycare center in Candelaria for seven years. The self-employed manager explains that she has no problems hiring staff, because many educators from day care centers in the area have expressed their desire to work in her small business. For García, the greatest difficulties are on another side.

The woman considers that if private caregivers could rent larger spaces in the state’s own day care centers, have access to educational resources at preferential prices and be respected and considered by the government to be educators, that would help meet the high demand for child care.

Translated by Wilfredo Díaz Echevarria

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After Months Of Testing, The First "Online" Shopping Site In Cuban Pesos Doesn’t Manage To Overcome Faults

Customers complain about the slow download of the page which makes it inconvenient for customers (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Zunilda Mata, Havana, December 13, 2018 — Last summer testing began for online shopping in national money (Cuban pesos, or CUP) in Cuba but the official launch happened this Wednesday in the Caribbean Chain of Stores on 5th and 42, in Miramar. After months of waiting and tests on the web, the first shopping site in CUP, accessible only from within the Island, registers many errors and has set off the complaints of users.

Customers, who must take away the merchandise acquired in a face-to-face manner, have confirmed the slowness of the page, which has suffered successive issues this Wednesday (its first day available) and security risks due to lack of an SSL certificate to guarantee the privacy of bank details entered by users.

Mario, one of those who yesterday was showing his discontent, said that the page “seems to be designed so that people get tired and give up.” He also pointed out that, to choose a product, previewing is very slow. “If they don’t improve it, customers won’t accept it,” he maintains. continue reading

According to its creators, the website will be available at any time of the day, but it will be suspended between 8 and 9 in the morning for maintenance and to update the available products. The products on sale, for the moment, are food, drinks, home goods, and cleaning products, although previously they included others such as electrical appliances, furniture, and hardware.

In this first phase, online shopping is only available in this store in the capital but it is predicted that the service will be extended to at least one store in each province during the first half of 2019, as Marta Mulet Fernández, commercial specialist in the sales department of the Caribbean Chain of Stores, indicated to the official press.

“This service is aimed primarily at the capital’s residents, but if you find yourself in another province of the country you can do the same thing and shop for friends and family from the capital,” she added.

“How lovely, doing shopping for friends in the capital…We peasants for the dear residents of the capital,” mocked another user, visibly annoyed by the privilege for Havana residents.

The head of the sales group of management of the technical market, Aurora Milanés, specified that Camagüey and Holguín would be the next provinces where users would be able to shop virtually.

Mulet Fernández explained that upon accessing the site, a warning appears informing the user that he is entering an unsecured connection because it doesn’t have “a certificate supported by any certification authority… The great majority of these authorities are American and the blockade prevents them from being sent out to .cu domains,” explained the specialist, who added that “the store is designed as a secure portal.”

The executives of the Caribbean Chain of Stores recommend that to shop online the user access it from a computer because the interface is “friendlier” from this device, although it is also possible to do it from a mobile device, a piece of advice that some have criticized, demanding that the company adapt itself to consumers and not the other way around.

To be able to use this page of electronic commerce one needs to use a magnetic card from any banking entity of the country and in national money (CUP), in addition to having one of the service cards for electronic banking (Teleblanca) distributed in the branches of Banco Metropolitano, BANDEC, or BPA.

Another of the users, happy with the launch of the store, wonders nevertheless how one would buy with Telebanca if they are not making cards at the moment. He also complained about the slowness of the website and suggested “a little more RAM and CPU for the server” where the page is housed. “It’s very slow and the images don’t load entirely,” another customer was lamenting.

This morning, after 9:30, the website was not available, as 14ymedio was able to confirm. Upon attempting to access it, the user could see the warning that the site was in “maintenance mode” and that the store would be “temporarily offline.”

Once the shopping is done, the bill and receipt for the transaction are sent via email. The payment system via which the products are purchased is managed by the Company of Information Technologies for Defense (Xedit), as the national press reported when the testing period began in July.

Mulet Fernández explained that for now only the method available for pickup will be in store, always starting 48 hours after the purchase and between 9:30am and 7:00pm from Monday to Saturday. Home delivery will not be available until the end of January and will cost an additional fee, yet to be specified.

Cubans, who for years have had to wait in long lines to shop in the country’s stores, have been thankful for the beginning of this type of sale, but many still wonder what sense there is in shopping from a distance if it’s still necessary to go to the store to pick up the product.

Translated by: Sheilagh Carey

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Nine Games To Go

With a view to what awaits, the Lumberjacks are the team that is in the best shape. (Cubadebate)

14ymedio, Ernesto Santana, Havana, 13 December 2018 — Endless games. Too many mistakes. Colossal number of runs. Countless walks, intentional or not. Frequent indiscipline of hitters, pitchers and managers. Very passive umpires and authorities. So many incredibly bad plays. Lousy pitching and offense so disproportionate that anybody can hit over .300.

This is the scenario of the 58th National Baseball Series in its second stage, but the public, for whatever reasons, is attending more than in other seasons. And despite everything, interest does not wane. The standings had blown up, then been put back together and now seem to split again at the ends.

Today, the Leñadores (Lumberjacks) (32-19) are the leaders to this point and Holguín (20-31) sinks to the bottom. Las Tunas, one point from passing, seems assured of qualifying, perhaps even for first place of the stage, while Villa Clara and Sancti Spíritus must maintain their battle for second and third, while the cats of Ciego and La Havana will fight for the fourth ticket. continue reading

Although until a few weeks ago a Leñadores vs. Tigres (Tigers) final was foreseen, at this point no one is sure who will be the second contender, but nobody doubts who will be first, because Las Tunas has been the strongest squad in the tournament and has become the main favorite for the title, which would be the first in their history.

Not that they needed to, but with winning fury, the Tuneros (Las Tunas) just swept Holguín coming from behind three times despite the combativeness of the Cachorros (Cubs). However, there were three games with an alarming amount of errors and runs.

In second place, tied with 27 victories and 24 losses, reside the Azucareros (Sugar Makers) and Gallos (Roosters). Yes Eduardo Paret’s group has had a good tournament, but they have surprised sometimes with their lack of forcefulness and they leave doubts about how much they will shine in the playoffs. His rising star, César Prieto, perhaps tired, is going through an incredible slump of fifteen days.

With Sancti Spíritus, however, nobody feels cheated. On the contrary. Although they just lost the subseries against their neighbors from Villa Clara, they are not expected to miss the playoffs and, to the pride of José Raúl Delgado, they continue to play well whether ahead or behind.

In fourth place, Ciego de Ávila (24-27) has surprised a lot in this phase, because, although they have quality names, in the offense as well as in the defense and pitching, they are playing below expectations and have kept themselves in the playoff race so far due to the bad streaks of Lions and Cubs.

Can the Blues be in the semifinals? It’s a great question. Rey Vicente Anglada, at first, warned that he was not a magician but managed to take his boys to the second phase, but it will not be easy for Industriales (23-28), with so many injured and in bad form, so poor in pitching and in defense, so inconsistent on offense.

Now no one expects Holguin (20-31) to accomplish the feat. They did in the first stage, but the new format relegated them to last and they started the second phase with very little force. Lately they have fought like Rottweilers and have beaten anyone, but, while they were the ones that played the best during the last 10 clashes, Las Tunas beat them. Whatever happens, no fan will forget the unexpected bravery of Holguin in the 58th Series.

Undoubtedly, with a view to what is coming, the Leñadores are the team that looks to be in best shape, and as the fans say, “without Danel there is no championship”, referring to the legendary player, the “Panther of Manatí”, opportunistic like nobody else although already past forty, without bad slumps like the present one of the also veteran Frederich Cepeda.

This Thursday begins the first of the last three subseries. In the Latin American Stadium, the Lions await the Roosters; in the Mella, the Lumberjacks the Leopards; and, in the Calixto García, the Bloodhounds the Tigers.

Translated by Wilfredo Díaz Echevarria

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A Restored "Memories of Underdevelopment" Returns to the Screen

Memories of Underdevelopment (1968) by Tomás Gutiérrez Alea (screenshot from Youtube).

EFE via 14ymedio, December 10, 2018 — Memories of Underdevelopment, the iconic film by Cuban director Tomás “Titón” Gutiérrez Alea (1928-1996), returned to the Havana screen on Sunday, fifty years after its premiere, in a restored version released by an American film company, The Criterion Collection.

Memories of Underdevelopment is based on the novel of the same name by Cuban writer Edmundo Desnoes, with a screenplay by the director. It premiered in Havana on August 19, 1968 and, in a recent survey, was named the best Latin American film of the twentieth century.

The Spanish website Notcine conducted the survey, which polled film industry professionals, critics, journalists, festival organizers and cinema fans from around the world.

A The New York Times guidebook also listed it among the 1,000 best films of all time. continue reading

The restored film is being shown as part of the 40th International Festival of New Latin American Cinema in Havana, which runs until December 16 and which is dedicated to Titón.

During a panel discussion on Sunday Valeria Nuttela, a representative from The Criterion Collection, noted that Gutiérrez Alea’s Memories of Underdevelopment is the first Cuban film to be included in the company’s collection, which features important American and international film titles.

Nuttela notes that every Criterion restoration takes into account a film’s history. It releases films in Blu-ray and DVD formats with additional material to help viewers better understand the context in which a film was made.

The newly restored version was submitted to individuals involved in its production and to Cuban film organizations such as the Cuban Institute of Cinematographic Art and Industry (ICAIC).

Among recent tributes to Titón are screenings of his films and a new postage stamp marking what would have been his ninetieth birthday. Also planned are the premiere of a documentary by his widow, the actress Mirtha Ibarra, and the release of his collected correspondence under the title Tomás Gutiérrez Alea: Retracing My Footsteps.

Memories of Underdevelopment is a personal story that would have seemed inconsequential were it not set in the heady days immediately following the Cuban Revolution, when all its contradictions were still red-hot.

Starring the late Sergio Corrieri, with Daisy Granados and Eslinda Núñez, it opens with a man staring down at the street below from his highrise apartment. The ninety-seven-minute film is structured around an internal monologue voiced by the main character, a middle-class intellectual who has decided to remain on the island rather than follow his entire family into exile in the United States.

Though now considered a masterpiece and a classic of Cuban cinema, critics note that the film was ahead of its time and generated controversy upon its release. Titón sought to challenge viewers and encourage them to find answers to the issues the film raised.

Gutiérrez Alea’s filmography also includes The Twelve Chairs (1962), Death of a Bureaucrat (1966), The Last Supper (1976), The Survivors (1979), Strawberry and Chocolate (1993) — the only Cuban film ever nominated for an Oscar”— and Guantanamera (1995), his final film.

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Site manager’s note: The writer Edmond Desnoes wrote a sequel to his novel and subsequently cooperated with Cuban filmmaker Miguel Coyula on a second film, Memorias del Desarrollo, which has been given the English title “Memories of Overdevelopment.”

Bus Accident in Holguin Leaves 3 Dead and 29 Injured

The vehicle, which belongs to the state-owned company Astro, was covering the route from Havana to Mayarí. (TeleCristal)

14ymedio, Havana, December 2, 2018 — Three dead and 29 wounded have been the outcome of a bus accident that took place at the entrance of Mayarí, in Holguín province. The vehicle, which belongs to the state-owned company Astro, was covering the route from Havana to that eastern town when it overturned around 5:30 in the morning this Wednesday, according to a report from the official press.

The dead have been identified as Diosmaris Mosqueda Castillo, 48 and a resident of Guayabo; Eulalia Sánchez Herrera, 52, a resident of Reparto Juan George Soto; and Ángel Merencio Rondón, from Pueblo Nuevo, all from the province of Holguín.

Another 29 people had to be attended to in the Mártires de Mayarí hospital and are “not in life-threatening danger,” the statement specifies.

Police are investigating the causes of the accident and some witnesses say that the bus, with the registration B 179 793, overturned when the driver “tried to avoid a cyclist and went off the road.”

Traffic accidents are the fifth biggest cause of death in Cuba, where last year a disaster was recorded every 47 minutes, with an average of one death every 12 hours.

In this year’s first trimester, the number of massive accidents in the country shot up in an alarming manner and as of now more than 4,400 deaths by this cause have been reported since 2012, according to official data.

The problem of the many traffic accidents that occur on the Island was addressed by president Miguel Díaz-Canel during a meeting with the Council of Ministers this past July, at which the leader urged concern for the “significant number of deaths and injuries” caused by these events.

On that occasion, the incumbent of Transport, Adel Yzquierdo, cited as principal causes of accidents “social indiscipline,” inadequate signs, the deterioration of roads, and the circulation of vehicles without up to date technical inspections.

In 2017 there were a recorded 11,187 traffic accidents in the country with a toll of 750 deaths and 7,999 injured, according to reports from the National Commission of Road Security.

Translated by: Sheilagh Carey

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The Last Group of Cuban Doctors Arrives from Brazil

One fourth of the doctors who were in Brazil may not have returned from the Island (EFE)

14ymedio, Havana, December 13, 2018 — The last group of Cuban doctors working in Brazil in the Mais Médicos (More Doctors) program arrived Wednesday in Havana, where they were received at the bottom of the airplane steps by Raúl Castro and a group of high-ranking functionaries of the Communist Party and the Government, according to national television.

The last group of doctors coming from the South American country arrived on a Cubana de Aviación flight of the withdrawal operation of volunteers, but official media did not specify the number of passengers nor the total sum of public health workers who have returned to the Island.

The last count, publicized on December 9, placed the number of professionals who had returned to the country until that point at 5,853, out of a total of more than 8,300. However, since the publication of that information, the figure has not been updated again. continue reading

Among the arrivals this Wednesday, the doctor Lisbet Fuentes Vargas, from Las Tunas, thanked the Cuban Government for having allowed her to be in Brazil accompanied by her family members. “I had the privilege of having my son and my husband with me there for 3 months.”

Fuentes Vargas also thanks the authorities that allowed her to bring her family with her on the airplane arranged by the Ministry of Public Health since, she insisted, she wouldn’t have been able to do it on “a normal flight.”

This is the first time in which mention has been made of the presence in Brazil of family members of workers, one of the demands of president-elect Jair Bolsonaro in order to keep Cubans in the program, in addition to them passing exams to revalidate their degrees in Brazil and collecting their salaries without the mediation of the Island’s Government.

In November the Government of Cuba announced its decision to withdraw its more than 8,300 health workers from the More Doctors program, in response to the intentions of the new Brazilian government to modify the conditions of the agreement. Cubans receive only 30% of their salary in Brazil and the rest goes to authorities in Havana, which Bolsonaro considered “inacceptable.”

Recently in Miami four Cuban doctors sued the Panamerican Health Organization (OPS), which they accuse of having facilitated the “network of human trafficking” and “slavery” that, they consider, was behind the More Doctors program in Brazil.

The More Doctors program was created in 2013 during the mandate of Brazil’s then-president Dilma Rousseff (2011-2016) with the objective of guaranteeing assistance in the most remote and humble regions of Brazil, now that Brazilians prefer to practice in large cities.

Translated by: Sheilagh Carey

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US Closes Office In Charge Of Migratory Affairs In Havana

In the picture, the embassy of the United States in Havana. (EFE)

14ymedio, Havana, December 11, 2018 — The United States has announced the total closure, from December 10, of its office in charge of migratory affairs in Havana. The functions of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will be assumed by its office in Mexico, according to a statement from that agency of the Department of Homeland Security in Washington.

Additionally, the US State Department will assume some of the services that USCIS previously provided in the Cuban capital, in the zone of the Embassy building that is popularly known on the Island as “the American consulate.”

The text, published today, announces the changes that will come into effect starting now and the situation regarding certain procedures. continue reading

“Visa services at the Embassy of the United States in Havana have been almost completely suspended since November of 2017 due to a reduction of personnel as a result of the attacks affecting the health of the employees of the Embassy of the United States in Havana,” explained USCIS in the statement.

The decision jeopardizes US permanent residents who, during a trip to the Island, lose their green cards or their reintry permits to the United States, because as of now they will have to complete the process outside of Cuba.

Applications for asylum and refuge in the United States Embassy are also suspended and Cubans who wish to have recourse to the Cuban Family Reunification Program will also have to travel abroad.

The office will be in contact in the upcoming days with asylum applicants whose applications are already in progress to provide more detail on the new procedures.

USCIS has provided a telephone number (011 53 (7) 839-4100) for those who want more information about their applications on the Island and announced that in the next few hours they will offer more information on the agency’s website.

Although since November of 2017 the US Embassy in Havana had stopped the majority of its visa processing services, it was still processing some procedures such as in emergency cases of US citizens who had lost their passports on the Island, in addition to the visas of Cuban diplomats and a few activists who were planning to travel to that country to study or to participate in events.

The consulate building, which also housed two documentation centers that offered internet access to the public, passed from being a place with a great hustle and bustle of visa applicants to remaining practically empty. Of the businesses in the area that depended on offering bathrooms, food, bag check, and help filling out visa forms online, the majority have closed in the last year.

The days in which John Kerry raised the flag to reopen the United States embassy a few yards away from Havana’s Malecón are long gone. The diplomats have lost almost all contact with the opposition groups and a service of sending news via email from the place’s press office is barely kept up.

Translated by: Sheilagh Carey

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Cuba Only Has Enough Flour for the Rationed Bread

Line to buy regulated bread that is being sold by rationing. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Luz Escobar, Havana, December 11, 2018 — The breakdown of mills and the lack of cash flow that Cuba is experiencing have combined to exacerbate the shortage of flour, as was confirmed this Monday by the Minister of the Food Industry, Iris Quiñones Rojas. The small amount of the product that remains on the Island is destined “practically only to guarantee bread for the regulated family basket.”

The head of the sector participated in the Roundtable TV program in a context of growing complaints from consumers and private businesses about the lack of the product in the network of stores all over the Island. Since a few weeks ago the lack of flour has worsened and many products that include this ingredient have stopped being sold.

Quiñones attributed the absence of this raw material to the poor state of the mills meant to process wheat on the Island and explained that since the beginning of the year “the country had to use financial resources that hadn’t been anticipated in the plan in order to import 30,000 tons of flour,” due to a failure to fulfill 70,000 tons from the national plan. continue reading

Until now, the only repair parts that have arrived on the Island have been those for the mill in Santiago de Cuba, whose maintenance work is being done without halting the industry to avoid worse harm. However, the Santiago mill doesn’t have the capacity to supply the entire eastern zone of the country and needs the support of the one in Cienfuegos, which is greatly deteriorated and still hasn’t received its spare parts.

Quiñones recognized that recent days have seen “the most tense moments of the entire year when it comes to the supply” of this ingredient, a situation that has forced business to paralyze a group of other productions, especially in the Cuban Bread Chain, which supplies state-owned stores with sweets and breads to be freely attainable all over the country.

Since the beginning of November flour hasn’t been sold in the country’s stores and it has been difficult to buy, in the state-controlled sector as well as in the private, products like bread, cookies, or sweets. The shortage has shot up prices of flour on the informal market, where it rose from 5 CUP (Cuban pesos) to 25 CUP per pound in the last month. Even so, it’s difficult to find.

This weekend various private business establishments that sell bread were displaying a sign saying “There is no bread” on their counters.

The owner of a private bakery on Calle Tulipán, in Nuevo Vedado, was explaining to her customers this Sunday that it would be the last day of the year that she would open to the public until waiting to see if things got better in January.

The self-employed women explains that she has received almost nothing for the past few weeks and that none of her suppliers “wants to risk himself” by making bread, sweets, or cookies even if they have a reserve of flour because the inspectors “are following them” to see where they got it from.

“They told me that a bag of flour is at a thousand pesos right now on the street,” she says. But in addition to the risk that one assumes to get the product in an illegal manner, she maintains that “it doesn’t support the business… I’m closing and that’s it, because selling meringues and candies, all that brings is loss,” insists the woman while she closes with a padlock the grille of the establishment before leaving.

The cry of a bread vendor in the San Leopoldo neighborhood in Havana used to be heard every afternoon, until a few days ago many private businesses that work with flour have closed up due to the scarcity of the raw material. Those who have managed to keep selling have fewer products and the fear that their reserves will run out before the end of the year, according to testimonies gathered by 14ymedio.

Lorent, a private pizzeria in La Timba, closed due to the lack of flour and now for repairs. (14ymedio)

In La Timba, a low-income area very close to the Plaza of the Revolution, the pizzeria Loren has been closed for three weeks because of the lack of flour. The owners have taken advantage of it to do some repairs in the place and paint the facade, but worries over the future of the business is souring the close of 2018 for them.

Various private restaurants with a menu based on Italian dishes, especially pizza, cannelloni, and lasagna, have also reduced their offerings. The biggest and busiest are still open, but their owners can’t be sure how much longer they will be able to remain open.

In the Havana restaurant Ring Pizza del Vedado they have opted to not offer cannelloni because they prefer to use the flour they have left for making pizzas, which “has a bigger market,” as an employee explained to this newspaper.

Minister Quiñones predicted that the situation would start to improve before the end of the year. “We are working intensely, all the personnel of the milling industry and of the business group, to make sure that normalcy returns,” she pointed out this Monday.

Translated by: Sheilagh Carey

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A Torrential Downpour Causes Floods in Central Havana and Cerro Areas

14ymedio, Havana, December 10, 2018 — A torrential downpour on Sunday afternoon caused floods in zones of Central Havana and Cerro, in Havana. Many residents of the Los Sitios neighborhood were forced to evacuate furniture, electrical appliances, and put the rest of their belongings where they would be safe faced with the advance of the waters, according to reports from residents in the area.

The most affected areas were around Calles Subirana, Árbol Seco, and the vicinity of Santo Tomás. Strong floods were also reported on roads like Amenidad and the vicinity of Manglar, in addition to the rest of the other low zones close to the sports area of Pontón.

“There wasn’t time for anything, the water started to rise suddenly and when we realized it, it was already up to our knees,” Niuris María, a resident of Calle Subirana who had to evacuate along with her two children to the house of some neighbors who live in a high area, recounted via telephone. “We were able to lift the refrigerator onto a table, but our mattresses have gotten wet,” she laments.

When night fell in the neighborhood, the residents of the flooded zones were still bringing furniture and other belongings outside to save them from the waters. “No one has come around here yet and the downpour stopped two hours ago,” complained a young man who along with various friends published photos of the floods on social networks.

“No patrol car, no rescue, nothing,” lamented another young man in a video on YouTube which showed the street behind him covered by water and the residents in the area carrying armchairs and other belongings. The Internet user described how many families suffered losses “of appliances and of everything.”

The residents of this low-lying zone, accustomed to downpours filling the streets with water, have built all types of barriers to keep the water from entering the houses. The majority of those who live on the ground floor have raised the bottom frame of the door and created a small staircase to access the home.

“The water passed over the wall quickly because it rained a lot in very little time,” explains Mario Ricardo, a retiree who lives in the vicinity of Calle Santo Tomás, in one of the zones most affected by the downpour, to 14ymedio. “Since it started to rain we realized that this Sunday we weren’t going to be able to sleep.”

In the early morning, the waters still hadn’t receded from everything and the most affected were waiting for the sun to come out so they could put their belongings out to dry. “This Monday my two children will not be able to go to school because all the clothing got wet and the youngest has a test,” commented another resident to this newspaper. “We hope that it doesn’t rain again in the next few hours so we can recover part of what is wet.”

For this Monday the Meteorology Institute predicted clouds in the western region with some showers and rain, mainly in areas of the northern coast.

Translated by: Sheilagh Carey

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Four Cuban Doctors Ask for Help Getting Refuge in Brazil

The Cuban doctors who have decided to stay in Brazil are being helped by the Order of Lawyers of that country. (O Tempo)

14ymedio, Havana, December 9, 20180 — Four Cuban doctors who were caring for the population of Nova Odessa, a municipality in the state of Sao Paulo, have asked for refuge in Brazil, according to the newspaper O Tempo. The professionals, who were working in the Mais Médicos (More Doctors) program, did not obey the call to return to the Island and now are considered “deserters” by Cuba’s Ministry of Health.

The president of the local section of the Order of Lawyers of Brazil (OAB), Alessandre Pimentel, laments that the Cuban doctors who have decided to remain in the country have stayed without the support of the mayors’ offices where they worked and now are knocking on the doors of his organization to ask for help.

“Some cities did farewell dinners for the Cubans, said that they were going to support them, but have turned their backs on those who stayed here,” he explains. “Even those who have started families can’t practice their profession because they are not being readmitted into the More Doctors program and they don’t even have a work permit to try another occupation.” continue reading

Of the eight Cubans who served at the Basic Health Units (UBS) of Nova Odessa, five decided to stay in Brazil, but only one married and regularized her immigration situation. So that they would not be considered illegal, OAB processed the requests for refuge of the other four to the Federal Police in Piracicaba (SP).

“If they are returned to Cuba, they will suffer reprisals,” assures Pimentel. The lawyer also recalls that the Island’s Government punishes the medical collaborators who decide to abandon a mission with an eight year ban on their entering Cuba, and categorizes them as “deserters.”

Liseti Aguilera, one of the Cuban refuge seekers, explains that she wants to revalidate the qualification as a doctor that she obtained in Cuba and work in basic care in Brazil. “I have come with the the greatest good will and I found a friend in the Brazilian people, I really want to stay, but I need work until I can take the examination.”

Suleidys González, another of the Cuban doctors who has decided to remain in the giant South American country, said that she will not return to the Island because of the bonds she managed to establish with the patients she cared for in Nova Odessa. “We are almost like family,” she explains.

In a statement, the town of Nova Odessa informed that they had supplied transportation and escort to the five doctors who have already requested permission to work. The mayor Benjamín Vieira commented that he was in contact with the Ministry of External Relations to discuss the case.

In other cities in the same state of Sao Paulo, the Cubans who married and decided to stay in the country also faced problems. “We are being discriminated against,” insists the doctor Lissete Quiñones. The health professional, based in San Miguel Arcángel, complains that for the open spaces in More Doctors they are prioritizing “Brazilians who were educated abroad and excluding us.”

In November the Cuban Government announced its decision to withdraw its more than 8,300 healthcare collaborators from the More Doctors program, in response to the demands of Brazil’s president-elect, Jair Bolsonaro.

The Cubans only received 30% of their salary in Brazil and the rest went to authorities in Havana, which Bolsonaro considered “inacceptable.” The rightwing leader also insisted that the doctors pass exams to revalidate their qualifications in that nation.

Last week in Miami four Cuban doctors sued the Panamerican Organization of Health (OPS), which they accuse of having facilitated the “network of human trafficking” and “slavery” that, they believe, was behind the More Doctors program in Brazil.

“There is an international organization (OPS), affiliated with the United Nations, that turned into the principal force permitting Cuba to export its citizens to perform slave labor in a foreign country,” declared the lawyer Samuel J. Dubbin during a press conference.

The More Doctors program was created in 2013 by then-president of Brazil Dilma Rousseff (2011-2016) with the aim of guaranteeing assistance in the most remote and humble regions of Brazil, now that the Brazilian doctors prefer to practice in the large urban centers.

Translated by: Sheilagh Carey

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Fahrenheit 349

The work of independent artist Nornardo Perea about Decree 349. (Facebook)

14ymedio, Reinaldo Escobar, Havana, 9 December 2018 — We have Ray Bradbury (1920-2012) to thanks for the novel Fahrenheit 451 (published in 1953) that tells the story of Guy Montag, a fireman whose job is to burn books considered ‘uncomfortable’ by the government. Such an atrocity was only possible because there was a powerful commission in charge of dictating what was right and what was not.

One of the main disputes that has prompted the enactment of Decree 349 in Cuba is precisely the creation of a “fire department” which, under the definition of an “authorized authority” or “inspector,” has the power to “immediately suspend the performance or projection in question” as expressed in Article 5.2 of this regulation.

On the Roundtable program aired on Cuban television last Friday, the members of a team made up of Alpidio Alonso, minister of culture, deputy minister Fernando Rojas; Lesbia Vent-Dumois, president of the Association of Plastic Artists of the Cuban Writers and Artists Union, and Rafael González Muñoz, president of the Hermanos Saíz Association, made an effort to show that those who did not accept the Decree were confused, had doubts or had not read it well. At no time did they use the verb “to disagree.” continue reading

The Roundtable once again maintained its traditional method of not inviting to the “debate” to those who think differently from the government. Divergent opinions were maliciously ridiculed by the panelists with the hackneyed device of reducing the arguments of the absent opponents to an absurdity.

For example, Fernando Rojas denied that artists had to ask for permission to exhibit their work although among the violations described in the decree is mentioned “he who as an individual artist or acting on behalf of the group to which he belongs, provides artistic services without the authorization of the appropriate [government] entity.”

Rojas also stated that it was false to say that the text of the regulation established the obligation to be a member of an institution and added that “in no passage of the Decree is that said, and I have the impression that this has to do with a subsequent manipulation to allege that the decree is addressed to the amateur.”

Here Rojas ignored that although the Decree does not explicitly state the obligation of the artist to be linked to an institution, it sanctions “someone who provides artistic services without being authorized to perform artistic work in a position or artistic occupation.”

The alleged suspicion that the Decree is directed against the amateur artist does not belong to the group of concerns expressed by its critics who have expressed concern about how it will affect independent artists who, while professionals, do not “belong” to any state institution.

In relation to the conduct of the inspectors, Fernando Rojas warned that “this action will always be preceded by a collective reflection of an analysis of the institutions with the participation of the creators, it will not be something imposed or improvised,” a statement which denies the power explicitly granted to these inspectors to “immediately” suspend a show or presentation.

It was repeated to the point of exhaustion that the Decree was not directed against the creators or against the act of creation, but rather it regulated the distribution and commercialization of art in public spaces. This argument recalls the statement of the then all-powerful Carlos Lage in Geneva in May 2002, where he said that Cubans had “total freedom of thought,” but without mentioning the limitations of freedom of expression.

In a country where almost all of the publishing houses, galleries, theaters and cinemas are in the hands of the State, it is a joke in bad taste to confirm the “freedom of artistic creation” while reinforcing the locks that limit the diffusion of what is created.

Censorship is masked by good intentions. It is presented as essentially a crusade against bullying, bad taste, vulgarity and manifestations that encourage violence or that incite discrimination based on gender, race, disability or sexual preferences.

But in “the fine print” where it lists the contents that should not be disseminated by the audiovisual media, it includes the statement “any other that violates the legal provisions that regulate the normal development of our society in cultural matters,” and among the behaviors which a legal or natural person should not incur, it includes the commercialization of books “with contents that are harmful to ethical and cultural values.”

Minister Alonso was decisive when he said that “the enemies of the Revolution have wanted to present the Decree as an instrument for censorship,” but neither he nor any of the Roundtable panelists had the essential transparency, honesty or courage to mention the names of Tania Bruguera, Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara, Yanelys Núñez, Michel Matos and Amaury Pacheco, who led the protests.

If the method of reducing to absurdity the arguments of the other side were used against the defenders of Decree 349, it could be said that it is fortunate that it has not been implemented in the past, because if so, a good part of our cultural production would have to be revised inquisitorially.

Painter Carlos Enríquez’s The Abduction of the Mulatto Women would not be exhibited in the museum due to its sexist, racist and gender violence-promoting work; Abela could never have published his cartoons of El Bobo because they would be interpreted as a mockery of disability; nor Guayabero his ¡ni hablar!, for its songs full of allusions with double meaning and implicit vulgarity; from Benny Moré, as an intruder, they would have confiscated the instruments of his Banda Gigante; and even the untouchable national poet Nicolás Guillén would be censored for his “negro bembón.”

In Fahrenheit 451, the protagonist becomes a defender of books when he encounters some beautiful verses. When it comes time to select and train the inspectors for the Decree 349 “fire department,” ministry officials will face the following dilemma: If they do not supply them with the culture required to perform as critics they will do a sloppy job, but if they come to possess the necessary sensitivity and information to do their jobs, then they will be tolerant with the creators and that can be dangerous.

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Ventana 14

14ymedio, Yoani Sanchez, Generation Y, 10 December 2018 – This Monday, December 10, Human Rights Day, I have begun the transmission of Ventana 14 (Window 14) from Havana. Ventana 14 is a reporting space through the services of Facebook Live. My purpose is to comment on the news and the most important topics of each day, especially those issues that will also be touched on in the pages of the newspaper 14ymedio. It will be like a brief sip of coffee: intense and at times bitter, but necessary.

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For Second Day, Taxis Circulate Empty in Havana

The drivers say in the left lanes of the streets, away from the sidewalks, where the customers wait. (14ymedio)

14ymedio, Havana, 8 December 2018 — “I’m going to the hospital, I have high blood pressure,” “I’m on my way to pick up some customers,” “my wife called me because she has a pain,” were some of the justifications given this Friday by the drivers of shared fixed-route taxis when a inspector stopped them for circulating empty. The conflict with the Government continued on Saturday in Havana, on the second day of the driver’s strike.

For 48 hours the most populated city in the country has been the scene of an unusual work stoppage, led by the drivers of almendrones — as the classic 1950s American cars are called, after their “almond” shape — vehicles that are vital for the transport of passengers. The protest is attempting to kill a package of regulations that went into effect on December 7 that imposes strict controls on the sector. continue reading

Mandatory routes, greater supervision over the purchase of fuel, affiliation with a particular pick up point, and the requirement to have a bank account to acquire spare parts, gasoline or diesel, in addition to maintaining a deposit corresponding to the payment of two months’ license fees, are some of the rules of the new legislation that have caused the current malaise.

The government has responded to the strike by reinforcing the state bus routes with new vehicles, but the sidewalks are still full of people who signal to passing taxis, with little or no results.

“They told many taxi drivers that they were going to confiscate their cars if they did not work, so we decided to drive but not pick up fares,” says Yunior, a 24-year-old driver who was inspected by two policemen in the vicinity of El Curita Park in Central Havana on Friday. “They wanted to take me to the station but I told them I was going to look for a cake for my daughter’s birthday and that’s why I could not carry passengers,” he tells 14ymedio.

Supposed family illnesses, emergencies that force the driver to return home, errands that can not be postponed and even an alleged technical breakdown that requires going to the garage, are other justifications used by drivers when the police or inspectors questioned them about circulating without passengers.

On the main avenues of the city the volume of private taxis has been unusually low in the last 48 hours and many of those who moved through the streets did so in the left lane, away from the sidewalks. Desperate would-be riders have had to choose to walk or take crowded buses.

Other drivers prefer less confrontational methods and have continued in service but under their own rules. Some drivers only pick up passengers on pre-arranged trips that are not on regular routes. The secondary streets, where it is rare to see these shared taxis due to the poor state of the roads, have seen higher volumes of the vehicles in the last few days.

“I can not risk losing my license because this is what feeds my family, but I’m moving around El Cerro and avoiding the larger streets,” says Augusto, another driver who joined the strike in his own way. “I’m just driving two or three hours a day and although it’s a big economic hit for my pocket, it’s the least I can do for the others who are doing the strike one hundred percent.”

Rafael Alba, a taxi driver who was arrested last Wednesday and who was warned by the police that they would confiscate his vehicle if he did not go to work, woke up in the early morning of December 7 with a police patrol in front of his house to verify that he would head out to pick up passengers. This newspaper has not been able to communicate with him again, because his phone is “off or outside the coverage area.”

“It’s hard, but today it’s affecting them and tomorrow it can be us,” says Julio Marrero, a 52-year-old engineer who works in the private sector in his own photocopy business. “I have had to walk long stretches because there is no transport, but the drivers are in their right to strike because if they do not do it, next year they will get worse,” he says.

Hundreds of inspectors and policemen, some dressed in civilian clothes, have been deployed throughout the capital, especially in the vicinity of the pick-up points where the almendrones usually begin their route. However, the current legislation does not require self-employed drivers to carry passengers as long as they are on the streets.

Despite the solidarity of many, some customers are annoyed that the strike is happening on very sensitive dates in December when transportation is needed to collect supplies for end-of-year celebrations. “It is good that they protest but the most affected are the citizens because the Government does not manage to reinforce urban transport enough so that Havana is not operating at half strength, as it is now,” a retired woman complained this Saturday, claiming she had waited “two hours” at a stop near G and 23 streets in Havana’s Vedado neighborhood.

Laura, from Santiago de Las Vegas, said that she had waited 30 minutes and the cars passed empty and didn’t stop. “When they do stop they tell you they’re not going to take you,” she said.

Another of the drivers’ “tricks” is to transport other drivers or members of their family. They take turns to act as drivers and passengers and “meet the letter of the law.”

“They’re seen to be carrying someone so they don’t go by completely empty, but even with all the backseats empty, they don’t take you,” Laura added.

The call for a strike, popularly known as El Trancón (The Big Traffic Jam), was broadcast among private taxi drivers in Havana and other provinces in the country days before the date the controversial package of measures went into effect. The drivers are demanding freedom of movement, the right to work throughout the country, access to a wholesale market, the right to import parts, and permission to have independent unions, among other demands.

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